Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

blog.tanyakhovanova.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#11

Post by chris_st »

tomsmeding wrote: post #9
aninteger wrote: post #3

Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.

For some reason I always (if reasonable, and that's often) climb and descend two steps at a time, like you describe. It's quick, and doesn't even tire much more than doing short-short-short, since while the exertion is a little higher, the entire staircase takes a lot less time. At some point you get good enough at this stuff to descend a staircase, quickly, at a busy train station (somewhat; can't be too busy becaus…

Me too also... I just find stairs boring, so I nearly always take them as quickly as I can, which means two at a time.

Really kind of scared a friend once doing it down stairs... he was pretty concerned for my safety!

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#12

Post by CydeWeys »

js2 wrote: post #5

Yes, but do you start at 0 or 1? Also, is the last step you take onto the floor/landing counted? And when going down, do you use negative numbers? So many questions left unanswered. I feel you aren't a true stair counting nerd afterall. :-)

I know you're joking, but the number of steps is well defined and doesn't vary as it's essentially a difference. The difference between two numbers is always the same regardless of whether you're using a 0-indexed or a 1-indexed base system. E.g. regardless of whether you call an element in an array [1] or [2], it's still two elements away from whatever is [3] or [4] -- the number of stairs climbed is the same.

So you're free to use either top-stepian or bottom-stepian notation when counting stairs and you'll get to the same answer either way. So it's just an implementation detail that's left undefined in the spec.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#13

Post by tunap »

Jugurtha wrote: post #4

Busted. I count the number of stairs of buildings I visit, but know the number of stairs per flight (not always the same) in the buildings I frequent. At one place, it's (4-7-8-7-7-4-7-5-12) to get to the top. It's useful if you don't want to turn on the light and wake people up. Most of the time, when the number of stairs is odd, I'll go one, then two-two-two-two. When it's even, it'll be either two-two-two, or one-…

The info also comes in handy when carrying large loads that obscure vision or being the backward carrier in a tandem load. I do it when walking across flat surfaces, too, but have found no usable value besides logging distances walked.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#14

Post by louthy »

aninteger wrote: post #3

Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.

I find two steps at a time much easier than what feels like tentative tip-toeing of single steps. I guess it’s just what you get used to.

Three steps at a time can be a bit ‘shaky’ at times. Especially as I usually try that when tipsy. Not fallen yet though!

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#15

Post by NicoJuicy »

aninteger wrote: post #3

Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.

For descending, on some stairs I can descend while "falling", it's very fast and not tyring it all.

You have to land on the edge of the stair below so you "drop", then rinse and repeat.

If you do it constantly, you only have to support your body ( but you use your weight to fall, so don't support it too much) and slide with your hands.

If you can't do it the first time, land with your foot normally and then always turn them slightly to go to the stairs below

Kinda hard to explain

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#16

Post by jacobolus »

CydeWeys wrote: post #12
js2 wrote: post #5

Yes, but do you start at 0 or 1? Also, is the last step you take onto the floor/landing counted? And when going down, do you use negative numbers? So many questions left unanswered. I feel you aren't a true stair counting nerd afterall. :-)

I know you're joking, but the number of steps is well defined and doesn't vary as it's essentially a difference. The difference between two numbers is always the same regardless of whether you're using a 0-indexed or a 1-indexed base system. E.g. regardless of whether you call an element in an array [1] or [2], it's still two elements away from whatever is [3] or [4] -- the number of stairs climbed is the same. So yo…

0-indexing steps is clearly the only reasonable choice. Who in their right mind would call the ground the “first step”?

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#17

Post by NeedMoreTea »

js2 wrote: post #5

Yes, but do you start at 0 or 1? Also, is the last step you take onto the floor/landing counted? And when going down, do you use negative numbers? So many questions left unanswered. I feel you aren't a true stair counting nerd afterall. :-)

Please don't. It's bad enough that the US and UK can't agree on floor numbering. :)

  USA 1st, 2nd, 3rd
  UK Ground, 1st, 2nd
Is the basement in the US 0?

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#18

Post by jacobolus »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #17
js2 wrote: post #5

Yes, but do you start at 0 or 1? Also, is the last step you take onto the floor/landing counted? And when going down, do you use negative numbers? So many questions left unanswered. I feel you aren't a true stair counting nerd afterall. :-)

Please don't. It's bad enough that the US and UK can't agree on floor numbering. :) USA 1st, 2nd, 3rd UK Ground, 1st, 2nd Is the basement in the US 0?

No, like the creator of the Anno Domini system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero, American elevator labelers do not believe in “unnatural” numbers < 1. Below the “first floor” they jump straight to B1.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#19

Post by O2F2 »

aninteger wrote: post #3

Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.

I've done two at time descending for the longest time until stumbled over another fun way to do this. One at a time, but you let one leg drop free while you pull the other leg forward to hit the next step. Somewhat hard to describe in a manner that makes sense. Think of hitting a drum with sticks. Only works with shallow stairs though. You know it works when your legs just kinda do their own thing and pull you forward. Obligatory don't try this in public warning.

Re: A Nerd’s Way to Walk Up the Stairs (2011)

#20

Post by O2F2 »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #15
aninteger wrote: post #3

Bonus points for doing this while going down. Taking public transportation as part of my daily commute involves a lot of stair climbing and descending. I always find it fascinating to watch the people who rush from bus to train platform and watch them descend 2 stairs at a time (basically always doing long long long) the whole way down. I've never been brave enough to try this method of descending though.

For descending, on some stairs I can descend while "falling", it's very fast and not tyring it all. You have to land on the edge of the stair below so you "drop", then rinse and repeat. If you do it constantly, you only have to support your body ( but you use your weight to fall, so don't support it too much) and slide with your hands. If you can't do it the first time, land with your foot normally and then always tu…

Take a look at my reply, we're doing the same damn thing! It's probably rather common.
Post reply on HN